MMTC Ltd has commenced operations at its unit in Jhandewalan, Delhi, for assaying and hallmarking precious metals, the first of its kind in the country.
The assaying and hallmarking operations are a part of the efforts of the trading house to market its own brand of gold jewellery through exclusive outlets in various parts of the country.
To ensure that the standards of hallmarking are met, MMTC has imported a set of machinery and equipment from London under the Indo-British export development bridging programme. Assayers have been trained by The Goldsmiths Company, which has been in the business of hallmarking for over 500 years.
PVA Johnson, a representative of The Goldsmiths Company, is in New Delhi to guide the officials who have been trained in assaying and hallmarking. Johnson said yesterday that hallmarking of internationally accepted standards could be attained with practice. Under the process of hallmarking, the items are checked according to the details mentioned in the prescribed hall-note and passed to the sampling department. Samples are drawn by scrapping at the convenient places and care is taken to avoid damage to the articles. After this, the sample is sent to the weighing room. After being weighed, the samples have to passed to the laboratory for fire assay. After they are found meeting the standards, the gold is sent for hallmarking and sale. Johnson said in England, no gold is allowed to be sold without hallmarking, which give customers a guarantee of purity of the precious metal.
